Earl Zindars

Earl Zindars
Born	(1927-09-25)September 25, 1927
Origin	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	August 15, 2005(2005-08-15) (aged 77) San Francisco, California
Genres	Jazz, classical
Occupation	Composer

Earl Zindars (September 25, 1927 – August 15, 2005) was an American percussionist and composer of jazz and classical music.

Biography

Zindars was born in Chicago and studied music composition at DePaul University and Northwestern University before studying as a Fulbright scholar at Oxford University. While doing postgraduate work at Columbia University, he played timpani at Radio City Music Hall and married the jazz singer Anne Bohigian. Zindars taught music composition and theory for six years at San Francisco State College.

Trained as a classical and jazz percussionist, Zindars went on to compose works for various ensembles. Many of his jazz pieces were recorded by his friend Bill Evans, including "Elsa" (1961), "How My Heart Sings" (1962), "Mother of Earl" (1968), "Soirée" (1970), "Sareen Jurer" (1974), and "Quiet Light" (1977). Evans and Zindars had met while both of them were serving in the military during the Korean War and playing in military bands. Zindars recorded three tracks with Evans on the album The Soul of Jazz Percussion (1960), which also features Donald Byrd, Pepper Adams, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones.

In the liner notes to his album How My Heart Sings!, Evans wrote of Zindars that "as is evidenced here," he "is a songwriter of outstanding merit." Evans also called him "a very fine symphonic percussionist as well as a jazz drummer" and "a composer of extended works for string quartet, brass ensembles, symphony orchestras, etc."

After Evans' death, "How My Heart Sings," in particular, went on to become a jazz standard, recorded many times. In 1985, guitarists Larry Coryell and Emily Remler covered it on their album Together.

Pianist Bill Cunliffe brought out a sextet CD in 2003, also titled How My Heart Sings, dedicating it exclusively to the music of Zindars. Cunliffe described Zindars' contribution:

He [Zindars] was an interesting composer in that he was one of the first, along with Brubeck, to write songs where the time signature changes. For example, on "How My Heart Sings," the first part of the song is in a waltz feel, but the middle part of the tune is in a 4/4, medium, swing jazz feel. That was very, very innovative for the fifties. Very few guys were doing that. His music is very interesting harmonically as well and he has a really strong melodic sense. He's a very good composer.

Zindars appeared on KCSM's Desert Island Jazz program in 2003.

He released two compact discs with his compositions: The Return and And Then Some. They were limited releases and featured the trios of Bay Area pianists Don Haas and Larry Dunlap.

Zindars died of cancer in San Francisco at the age of 77. A San Francisco Chronicle obituary noted, "Zindars, who expressed himself more through his music than words, composed his final composition less than a month" before dying; "it was called 'Roses for Annig' and was dedicated to his wife of 43 years."

In 2011, the Italian pianist Luciano Troja recorded a Zindars album titled At Home with Zindars. AllAboutJazz noted in a review: "Enchanted by Zindars' compositions, Troja embarked on a five-year odyssey to meet the sources of Zindars' inspiration—his wife and daughters—and to record, over several years, sixteen of Zindars' pieces. Troja's dedication and evident inspiration gave rise to these heartfelt and arresting personal forays into a composer's music whose influence on Evans was profound."

External links

• Zindars.com
• Letter From Evans Archived 2011-07-17 at the Wayback Machine- Hinkle, Win. 1993. Please see pages 18–21 for extensive interview with Earl Zindars.

Further reading

• Pettinger, Peter (2002) [1999]. Bill Evans: How My Heart Sings (New ed.). Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-09727-1.